Human-Robot Interaction

Author: Christoph Bartneck

This is the human-robot interactin podcast series in which we explore the relationship between humans and robots.
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Language: en

Genres: Science, Social Sciences, Society & Culture

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The Case For Rude Robots
Tuesday, 28 October, 2025

There’s been discussion on whether people should say please and thank you to their Alexa or Claude, but should Alexa, Claude, and their robot relatives always maintain their level of civility when responding back to us? What is the point of (im)politeness in robotics? Linguist Derek Bousfield (expert on human politeness), computer scientist Blake Jackson (expert on user expectations of robots in terms of politeness), and psychologist Merel Keijsers (expert on robot bullying) discuss the pros and cons of robots that are able to be rude to humans. Transcript The transcript of the episode is available as a PDF. You can also follow the episode with subtitles through Descript. HRI-Podcast-Episode-035-The-Case-For-Rude-Robots ISSN 2703-4054 Important Links: The Influence of Politeness Behavior on User Compliance with Social Robots in a Healthcare Service Setting I’d blush if I could Can’t you see I am bothered? Stop ignoring me! Computers are social actors The morality of abusing a robot Should we respect LLMs? People are losing loved ones to AI-fueled spiritual fantasies Tact in noncompliance